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Sunday, June 13, 2010

You're 10 months old now! The entire world has changed for you in the last month. You can now sit up on your own (using an adorable backing up manuever), you can pull yourself up to standing (which you do compulsively, no matter how tired you are), and you can communicate in a whole host of new ways - more on that in a minute. Your father and I can't get enough of you. You are adorable - although sometimes that can be difficult to see when you are arching your back and throwing a temper tantrum - and already have a wonderful sense of humor. It's so fun to see your personality take shape as you grow into the child you are becoming.

After 6 months of consistently using ASL, you have finally started to sign back! This opens up a whole world of communication between us, and I couldn't be more excited. A couple of weeks ago, we were driving upstate to see your grandparents, and I was feeding you some puffs to tide you over before lunch. And right before my eyes, you put your little hands together and signaled for MORE! MORE puffs! Since then you have expanded your use of "more" beyond food - to include requests for MORE books, MORE airplanes in the sky, MORE "Da Da" ....everything is MORE MORE MORE. You also use "more" when you want something different, as in "more something else." Using "more" along with finger pointing, grunting and shaking your head "no" really lets me know what you want. I can't always give it to you (enter temper tantrum), but it's fantastic that you can tell me. Your other consistent sign is "FAN" - no surprise since the ceiling fans in the house were your first love. So basically everything in the house is either MORE, FAN or "Da Da." You love your Da Da!

As I mentioned before, I already see your sense of humor emerging. You think it's quite funny to fake cough, belly buttons amuse you, and funny faces continue to make you giggle. And of course, a well timed funny face within a game of peek a boo can be quite hilarious. Unfortunately, the one thing you did not find amusing was when Da Da put you in the giant cardboard box.

I can't wait to see what you do next, Nate. Let's hope it includes taking long naps. Where DID those naps of yours go? Too much going on your world to nap, I suppose.

3 comments:

I would like to hear MORE (no pun intended:) about your son's signing! This is fascinating and I would love to hear about your method of teaching him...how many signs can a baby learn?...did/do you have challenges...what are the benefits of teaching a baby to sign? As much as I can read up on this, I would love to hear from a Mom who is doing this firsthand!

Thanks so much for your interest, Rachel! I intend to post a much more detailed explanation in the next week or so about signing with your baby - so make sure you come back often or subscribe to posts! But briefly - using sign language with your baby allows you to communicate more effectively with your baby before they have the ability to actually speak with you, which cuts down on frustration (for both of you) and promotes bonding. Studies show it can also improve vocabulary (of both spoken words and signs)and cognition skills well into their elementary school years. I'll cover all of your other questions in my upcoming post and include some further resources for you as well.

I had just read about this somewhere. I used to study sign as I had an aunt that worked with the deaf - now i wish i knew where that book was - probably at my parents' house. but i will have to get to work on that!